Pencil-sharpener.



No. 67l,l30. I Patented Ap'r. 2,1901.

N.-J. DARDEN.

PENCIL SHARPENER.

(Application filed my 2. 1900-) (No Modal.)

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UNTTED STATns ATENT @Tmca NEWTON J. DARDEN, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

PENClL-SHARPENER.

SPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 671,130, dated April 2, 1901.

Application filed May 2. 1900. Serial No. 15,182. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NEWTON JASPER DAR DEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Sharpening Pencils; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of the present invention is to provide a convenient device for sharpening leadpencils that can be manufactured at a comparativelysmall cost and placed on the market as an advertising medium orconvenient for use in the school-room, counting-room, or used in connection with a pocket memorandum-book, a blotter, or school-tablet, thereby providing a convenient means for cutting or reducing the wood covering of the pencil and also the graphite or other mineral substance compos ing the core thereof and clean and polish the reduced portions of the pencil and remove the dust and other matter from the surface, and thus obtain a smooth, clean, and polished pencil-point.

The invention therefore consists in a device for sharpening pencils, comprising a suitable tablet having an abrasive surface and a flexible protecting-shield therefor composed of felt, cloth, or other similar material that maybe used as a protector, a polishingcloth for the end of the pencil, and also as a pen-wiper when found necessary, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a perspective view of my improved pencil-sharpening device embodying substantially my invention, with the protecting-shield partly broken away to show the abrasive surfaces upon the tablet; Fig. 2, a transverse section thereof, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a suitable tablet of any desired shape and size and of any preferred material, but preferably of cardboard, leather, leatherette, or other material that will possess the requisite flexibility to form a back to the abrasive surface and admit of the tablet being bent to form a rounded surface for convenience of sharpening the pencil. If desired, the under or outer side of the tablet A may be provided with a suitable blotteupad B, of any suitable absorbent material, whereby the pencil-sharpening device may serve the additional purpose of a blotter when used in a school-room or upon an officedesk. The inner or upper side of the tablet A is provided with a suitable abrasive surface for cutting or reducing the wood covering of the pencil and also the graphite or other mineral substance constituting the core thereof.

Where two or more abrasive surfaces are used, I prefer to form the abrading material of emery or other analogous material of different degrees of fineness.

As a means of illustrating my invention I have preferred to show two abrasive surfaces 0 D, which in the present instance extend parallel with each other, with a space between for securing thereto a protecting-shield E along the center thereof, so that each side of the shield will extend over and protect the abrasive surfaces. This protecting-shield is adapted to a device having two abrasive surfaces arranged with relation to each other as shown; but it is evident that the protecting-shield may be arranged and connected to the device in any well-known and preferred manner, so long as it will cover and protect the abrasive surface or surfaces and prevent the same from coming in contact with any foreign substance or articles carried in the same pocket with the device.

The protecting-shield must be necessarily composed of felt, chamois, cloth, canvas, or other like material to give'it the required pliancy or flexibility to serve as a polisher for the end of the lead-pencil and also as a penwiper when found necessary. It will therefore be seen that this felt or other similar flexible protecting-shield is not only designed to cover and protect the abrasive surface when not in use, but also serves the function of a polisher for the end of the pencil, and when the device is used in the counting-room, on an office-desk, or in the school-room the protecting-shield may be utilized as a penwiper, thereby performing three separate and distinct functions-viz., a protecting-shield, a polisher, and a pen-wiper.

In using the device with two abrasive surfaces, as shown in the drawings, the side of the protecting-shield covering the coarser one of the abrasive surfaces is turned back to expose the same and the long side of the tablet turned toward the operator, the tablet being held firmly in the left hand. The pencil is now taken between the thumb and finger of the right hand and the point or Wood shoulder brought in contact with the abrasive surface at the proper angle and rubbed backward and forward rapidly and at the same time turning the pencil slowly between the fingers to cut or reduce the wood only and leaving the lead exposed. To reduce the lead point, the tablet is turned around and the finer one of the abrasive surfaces is used, the pencil-point being brought in contact therewith and moved back and forth and turned as before, which will quickly bring the lead point to the desired fineness. To produce a clean and polished pencil-point, the point is held between the thumb and finger in a fold of the flexible shield and twirled rapidly, which will give a nice, smooth, and clean point to the pencil.

The flexibility of the tablet will enable it to be bent around the edge of a desk to present a rounded abrasive surface to the point or end of the pencil to facilitate sharpening the same and also permitting the tablet to be folded into a V shape, so that When the end of the pencil is inserted in the fold and rapidly turned the end thereof will be quickly reduced to the desired point.

The pencil-sharpening device as herein described may be utilized as an advertising medium by placing on the tablet suitable printed matter, or the device may be made more elaborate and expensive to be used in connection with a pocket memorandum-book or pocket-slate, the abrasive surface of the tablet being at all times covered and protected by the shield when not in use, thereby protecting the abrasive surface from unnecessary wear.

In describing the device I wish it understood that many changes or modifications in the several details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention or the essential feature thereof, which consists principally of the flexible protecting-shield in connection with a tablet having an abrasive surface.

Having now fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A pencil-sharpening device, comprising a suitable tablet having an abrasive surface and a protecting-shield therefor composed of felt or other suitable flexible material, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A pencil-sharpening device comprising a flexible tablet having an abrasive surface and a flexible protecting-shield therefor, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

N. J. DARDEN.

Witnesses:

JNo. P. EVANS, W. G. HARRIS. 

